Childlike Awe and Trust

Sermon for Sunday, September 7, 2014

Heidelberg450 series: Lord’s Day 46 (“Our Father in heaven”)
First Presbyterian Church ▪ Lake Crystal, Minnesota
Rev. Randal K. Lubbers, Pastor & Teacher
“Childlike Awe and Trust”
Romans 8:31-32; Matthew 6:25-34; 7:9-11

THE TEXTS

NEW TESTAMENT LESSON

Romans 8:31-32
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?

GOSPEL LESSON

Matthew 6:25-34; 7:9-11
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today….
Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

HEIDELBERG CATECHISM Q & A 120

Q. Why did Christ command us
to call God “our Father”?
A. To awaken in us at the very beginning of our prayer what should be basic to our prayer— a childlike reverence and trust that through Christ God has become our Father, and that just as our parents do not refuse us the things of this life, even less will God our Father refuse to give us what we ask in faith.1

HEIDELBERG CATECHISM Q & A 121

Q. Why the words “in heaven”?
A. These words teach us not to think of God’s heavenly majesty as something earthly,1 and to expect everything needed for body and soul from God’s almighty power.

THE SERMON

INTRODUCTION

How was YOUR day yesterday? Such a bright blue sky, such a wonderful feeling in the air—did you get through the day without some exclamation of praise? Or last night! Not quite a full moon but lovely nonetheless, clear sky, bright stars, and a cool hint of autumn? Could you absorb it without whispering “wow”? It got me to singing the choral anthem by John Rutter, “Look at the World”—

Look at the world, everything all around us
Look at the world and marvel every day.
Look at the world: so many joys and wonders,
So many miracles along our way… 

Look at the earth bringing forth fruit and flower,
Look at the sky the sunshine and the rain.
Look at the hills, look at the trees and mountains,
Valley and flowing river, field and plain. 

Think of the spring, think of the warmth of summer
Bringing the harvest before winter’s cold.
Everything grows, everything has a season,
till it is gathered to the Father's fold: 

REFRAIN: Praise to thee, O Lord for all creation.
Give us thankful hearts that we may see
All the gifts we share, and every blessing,
All things come of thee.

Gratitude is one of the central themes of scripture.

Gratitude is the heart of the Christian life.

Gratitude leads us into prayer which, the Heidelberg Catechism says, is the most important part of the thankfulness God expects from us. Gratitude is foundational to the way we understand God and our relationship with God.

God gives.
We receive and give thanks with a grateful heart.

INTERLUDE

Some of you remember our series this summer on the Ten Commandment. More than once along the way we talked about the commandments in the context of the Exodus, God’s deliverance of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt—the Exodus was their escape out of Pharaoh’s harsh rule and, eventually, into the Promised Land. God set them free and the commandments were not arbitrary, indiscriminate, harsh rules designed to keep people in their place; but rather, God’s guide for living in gratitude.

God’s whole goal for the Hebrew people, expressed to Abraham many generations before, was that they bring God’s salvation to the whole world. Abraham was blessed to be a blessing.

This is the big picture of the salvation story from Genesis to Revelation: God’s whole work with human beings has this central goal: That just as God lives with us, so we too live and have community with God.i

Authors C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison say that another way in their book Slow Church, and again you’ll hear a connection to the Exodus story we’ve talked about so much:

In sharp contrast to an earthly tyrant who brutalizes his subjects into fearful submission, God lovingly and patiently involves humans in the work of reconciliation.ii

God’s people—you, and me, and all of us together—are at the heart of God’s ministry of reconciliation. Paul told the Corinthian church, “…If anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation…. All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”

“Our calling to Christ is to COMMUNITY—to a life shared with others in a local gathering that is an expression of Christ’s body in our particular place” (Slow Church). You’ve seen those demonstration plots for corn and soybeans, right? Our church is called to “…become a demonstration plot for what God intends for all humanity and all creation.”  iii

So when we pray, we pray, “OUR Father.” Not merely MY Father. Even when we pray the Lord’s Prayer alone, we pray “OUR Father” and we, in effect, pray with and for the whole community and the whole world. Our prayers are part of our ministry of reconciliation. The hospitable church is a worshiping, singing, praying church. Come to think of it, hospitality and openness and respect, these are all childlike virtues. We pray “Our Father” to awaken in us a childlike awe and trust: Wow! Imagine that! Through Jesus Christ God has become our Father; and we, God’s children.

ON BEING CHILDLIKE

I don’t know about you, but sometimes the idea of being “childlike” strikes people the wrong way. Whether we believe it or not, we sometimes act as if the idea of “saying your daily prayers” is ONLY for little children—or, perhaps, for those immature or weak people who somehow have a “need to pray.” Ideas such as “rugged individualism” and “autonomy” are so pervasive in Western culture, particularly among men—it creates a cognitive disconnect:

We SAY that we VALUE ‘childlike awe and trust’—indeed, we latch on to cute stories about that sort of thing—but in the way we live do we truly value ‘childlike awe and trust’ or do we REALLY put a higher value on adult sensibilities, logic, good judgment, skepticism, and self-reliance? We SAY that we OUGHT to pray and we teach our kids to pray (or at least hope the church might) and yet, yet… somewhere deep down we feel like prayer is an admission of weakness.

Well, the short answer is that yes, yes… PRAYER is an admission of weakness, powerlessness, emptiness; but it is in that very admission that we discover Christ’s strength. It is not through individualistic self-sufficiency that we become free. We become free in our relationship with God. God gives us that gift. God adopts us and calls us dearly loved children and heirs. We simply respond in gratitude.

Really now, is the whole boot-straps thing all it's cracked up to be?  In our self-sufficiency we worry endlessly. We’re anxious about everything and yet EVERYTHING WE NEED is exactly what God promises to give us. When we are set free, we are truly free to desire God first and foremost and trust that all the other things we need will be provided as well.

Maybe we get confused because we think of God as the one who has foreordained everything in precise detail and that, since God is God and we aren’t, it might be presumptuous or egotistical to ask for anything at all.

But we don’t pray to an immovable object but to “Our Father in heaven” – that is, we pray to the God revealed in Jesus.

God has become our father through Jesus Christ and will no more deny us what we ask for in faith than our human parents will refuse us earthly things (paraphrasing HC Art. 120).

God in Jesus Christ is Immanuel, the God with us. God not only wants to talk to us but desires that you and I talk to and with God. God really wants to listen to us. God wants us to have a say.

Certainly, in all this, God is God and we are not; and yet, even though we shouldn’t think of God’s majesty as something earthly, yet there is nothing in our lives, none of our concerns, nothing on this earth is foreign to God. (Busch)

Prayer is not a monologue. The God who calls us to pray hears us. We don’t pray merely for its meditative value or to reflect upon things in an abstract way. God really hears us. We don’t merely pray because it changes us—although indeed it does. Prayer isn’t an act of envisioning your best life nor should our prayers the long lists prepared by children for Santa Claus. Jesus is our example, not Joel Osteen. Prayer is not something to feel pious or self-righteous about. It earns us nothing. At the same time, don’t avoid praying because you don’t feel pious enough. That’s a false humility. Our prayers need not be perfect because no matter what words we use; God hears our prayers for the sake of Jesus; and Jesus himself forgives our insincere and empty phrases and molds our prayers into perfect prayers.

CONCLUSION

We begin the Lord’s Prayer “Our Father” to awaken in us a childlike reverence and trust. We say “in heaven” not because God is “far away” (he’s not) but, rather, to remind us that “God is God and we are not” and that because God is God—almighty, yes, AND compassionate and gracious, overflowing in mercy and faithful love—we can EXPECT everything we need—for both body and soul.

Every good gift, all that we need and cherish.
Comes from the Lord in token of his love…

Every good gift! So what can our response be but wonderment, amazement, reverence…?
 
And along with those feelings, a deep and abiding trust.

Our Father in heaven: When we look at nature we are in awe—but even more so when we look into your heart through the face of Jesus. Giving is basic to your very nature. You give and give and give again; and you even gave your own Son. How can we NOT trust that you will give us everything else we need? Amen.

Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel wrote, “Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”iv

Epilogue

A young father took his four-year old son to the shore somewhere on the East coast about an hour before dawn. They walked the dark beach for a while, got their feet wet, and then settled in to wait for the sun. Hints of light made the water glisten and then the rays of light became brighter until, finally—[snap] just like that—the bright sun was alive! The little boy watched in awe, in total silence for a full minute (an eternity for a young boy on the beach). And, then—eyes wide—he turned to his dad and said, “Wow, Dad. Do that again!”

And that’s the thing.
God does it again.
And again and again!
Every day.

Amen.

Notes

i Paraphrasing Eberhard Busch, Drawn to Freedom, p. 321
ii Slow Church, p. 26.
iii Slow Church, pp. 29-30.
iv Slow Church, p. 174.